SOA - Any penny pinching ideas welcome

RuthyB27

Hi All

Long time lurker and big lover of this site I have been reading lots of diaries and threads and feel like this is my LBM and its time to stop looking at others and take control of my situation.

I have been in debt for a long time and every month due to bad money management and poor budgeting I end up spending on credit cards.

I would like to create a true and accurate budget that doesnt set me up for failure buy missing something that might crop up so appreciate any feedback on my SOA.

I am a little stuck with my poor decision on the car loan however would like to clear my credit cards through penny pinching as am not able to get any 0% deals and am paying about £70 pm interest then would like to start saving to buy a house which is something that I would love more than anything.

Any tips suggestions and cut back advise would be much appreciated.:T
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1859
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 50
Total monthly income.................... 1909
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 253
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 92
Electricity............................. 18
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 16
Telephone (land line)................... 17
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 17
Internet Services....................... 17
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 98
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 33
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1571

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 9000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Secured Debt.................. 13000....(253)......19.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 13000.....-.........- [/B]
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC1............................2900......200.......27.9
CC2............................900.......50........27.9
Furniture Loan.................398.......48........0
Total unsecured debts..........4198......298.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,909
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,571
Available for debt repayments........... 338
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 298
Amount left after debt repayments....... 40
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 9,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -13,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,198
Net Assets.............................. -8,198

rockm87

Hi, if you complete this one http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

you can select the 'MSE' format, so it comes out a little clearer.

andyfromotley

Hi Ruthie,

Mobile can be less if you're not in a contract. £15 per month gets plenty for most people.

£51 for tv/phone/internet bin the sky, get phone broadband for about £16 per month.

Insurance - obviously HAMMER down that price at renewal time.

Holiday? When you owe £3900 at 30% interest??? Not sure about that.

You could probably shave some money of entertainment, although you are hardly being excessive in this area. Maybe £125.

I would not put any money into EF whilst i had such extensive debts.

These changes alone would save you an extra £170 per month. With the £40 per month you have left over thats over 2.5k per year you could reduce your credit card by. (in addition to the overpayment you are already making)

Obviously this is pretty hardcore DFW living, but just giving you some ideas.
You have to choose a level of economy that you can live with, but some of these may be easy wins?
As ever the simplest way to improve your situation is to increase income. Job change? Part time work? These almost always have the biggest impact on income.

Hope this helps andyx

sofarbehind

Hi Ruthy,


I wonder if you have thought about moving into a room in a shared house? This would save you around £200/month. I know it's not a great option in many ways and it's difficult to give up your own space but it would help a lot. It's what I did and it has been difficult but has got me into a much better position. If you're as desperate for a house as I am it might be worth thinking about. Just an idea.

LittleMissGiggles123

Mobile phone is high.


Entertainment is also pretty high. Could you cut this down to £100 or even £75 for a few months just to start taking chunks out of the debt?


Car insurance is also pretty high. When is your renewal? Make sure you shop around for quotes & check to see if you can get cashback through TopCashback or Quidco.


The only other thing I would suggest cutting back on & maybe cancelling certain elements is the telephone/internet/satellite TV. These 3 total £51 per month but there are usually a lot of offers on the packages. Sometimes if you just ring & tell them you want to cancel they will offer you a deal there & then.


Can your council tax be split over 12 months? Or if you don't want to do this, are you using the 2 'free' months to put extra money towards a debt?

Red-Squirrel_2

Your car insurance is very high, but I'm assuming you already plan to shop around and get that right down as soon as possible.

Your medical costs of £33, without wanting to pry, if that's for prescriptions then a pre-payment certificate would be much cheaper. If its for private health insurance I'd be looking at whether that's essential.

How's your credit history? Is there absolutely no way to get some of those debts onto a 0% credit card to get the interest down?

FatVonD

I'm sure you know this anyway but you need to throw everything you can at CC2 with the £900 balance in the hope they offer you a 0% deal once it's cleared so you can move the other over (cc card companies abhor a zero balance.)

Where do you go to socialise? Get yourself a part time job there instead and get paid to be there instead of paying to be there

bbk87

Your council tax - is that over 10 or 12 months? Put it over 12 and you'll pay less each month. Do you also get the 25% single person discount?

All your other bills seem ok. Car insurance can be reduced. When renewing get quotes from various companies then see if current insurer can beat it.

Mobile phone - when your contract ends, get SIM only. GiffGaff do a decent £12pm with 4G, 3GB data, unlimited texts and 500 minutes.

Medical is high at £33pm - what is this for? If it's prescriptions, cut this by getting a pre payment card which is £10.40pm. If it's private healthcare - do you really need this / can you afford it each month whilst in debt?

It's your personal spending that is the highest - £150pm on entertainment, that is a lot. Could you reduce this? Depending on what this 'entertainment' is. If it's socialising IE pubs etc drink cheaper /less drinks. If it is dining out, then either go to cheaper places / look for vouchers to use / only eat a main. That way you can still socialise but cheaper. Or perhaps have people over for drinks / dinner instead.

I would overpay as much as possible on CC2 to clear that, then put that £50pm on to CC1.